Using Twitter Effectively

Social media marketing and networking is here to stay. Using Twitter effectively will definitely help you connect to people. I'm going to share my experience to help you build your Twitter network.

In April of 2008, I signed up for my Twitter account. I'd been hearing about it among internet marketers, both pro and con, so I was curious. Knowing very little, I researched how to get started, and started following the well known internet marketers. After six months, I was following almost 1500 Tweeples and had about 600 followers of my own.

It was logical to me the more people you followed, the greater the odds of people returning the favor and folowing you. What I noticed though, was only about 30% returned the favor and followed me. And more importantly, the more well known would almost never follow in return.

What was needed, I figured, was a list of people who were more inclined to follow those who followed them. I wish I had came up with this first, but I didn't. A fellow Tweeple, @thebusybrain cleaned his list of those who didn't refollow him and submitted it to the Twitter community as "Tit-for-Tat", or "600 Twitter Followers in 24 Hours".

Basically, it is this: follow these people and they'll follow you back. Here's where his list is located, http://bit.ly/TwitterFollowers. He claimed he got 600 new followers in 24 hours! I took up his challenge and had spectacular results, too. In 36 hours, I accumulated almost 500 new followers.

Honestly, the "600 Twitter Followers in 24 Hours" caused quite a commotion. Actually, among some, sharp criticism and even outright anger! But the upside is, it's brought awareness to the fact it's courteous to follow someone who is following you. You don't have to, but I think it's a good practice providing that person fits into the overall scope of why you're using Twitter.

Saying that brings up the subject why people use Twitter. I can't speak for the millions of users, but from my perspective a hefty number use it in order to expand their network of business aquaintances. And, in all honesty, that is one of my reasons. I also use it as a resource. For instance, through Twitter, I found a lady to create quality graphic images for my ebooks at a very reasonable price.

As I said earlier, the more prominent and well known Tweeples have a tencency to not return the favor of following. Below are images of actual people with thousands of followers and few who they follow in return.

Obviously, these are people you don't want to follow unless they have something to say you want to know.

Here's my suggestion. Keep your list of followers clean of those who haven't returned the favor of following you back. It takes some time, but well worth the effort. Naturally, you may have some famous people or gurus who you want to follow even though you have no hope they'll follow your tweets. I have a few now, I used to have hundreds.

There are many tips for Twitter and to help you, here's 50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business by Chris Brogan.

50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business

We really canít deny the fact that businesses are testing out Twitter as part of their steps into the social media landscape. You can say itís a stupid application, that no business gets done there, but there are too many of us (including me) that can disagree and point out business value. Iím not going to address the naysayers much with this. Instead, Iím going to offer 50 thoughts for people looking to use Twitter for business. And by ďbusiness,Ē I mean anything from a solo act to a huge enterprise customer.

Your mileage may vary, and thatís okay. Further, you might have some really great ideas to add. Thatís why we have lively conversations here at Chris Brogan.com in the comments section. Jump right in!